Facing an uphill battle against Socialist challenger Francois Hollande, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sought to pander to the country's far-right electorate. TIME scrutinizes some of Sarkozy's more outrageous statements.

Mosque and State

Campaign posters of candidates for the 2012 French presidential election are seen stuck in street of Paris, on April 24, 2012.

“I saw a call by 700 mosques to vote for Mr. Hollande on the site of a leftist magazine.”—FT1 television interview, TF1 April 25, 2012, echoing claims by aides that French mosques are influencing Muslims to vote for the Socialist frontrunner.

France’s official Islamic organization, the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), has said its inquiries have found no evidence of endorsements of Hollande by or in any member mosques. Later comments by Sarkozy suggest he was aware of the CFCM’s refutation of the endorsement claim, yet he aired the view of a grand Muslim conspiracy again anyway.